Chapter 6 #3
Julia looked up at Deacon, shocked to see him standing there.
“May I join you?”
She shrugged. “It’s not my jetty.”
He sat next to her on the same massive rock. “I’d forgotten how beautiful this island can be.”
“How could you forget that?”
“I’ve been gone a long time.”
“Didn’t you come home to visit your family?”
“Not very often. Mostly, they came to see me when I lived in Boston.”
“You aren’t close to them?”
“Not really. I made a point to talk to my mom and grandmother every week, but other than that, not so much.”
Julia couldn’t imagine life without the close bond she’d always shared with her brothers and sisters. It was how they’d survived. “Why?”
“I don’t know, really. We’ve just never been particularly tight. My sister is the oldest, then Blaine and then me. Our other brother and sister are much younger than the rest of us. I was long gone by the time they hit high school.”
“Where do they live now?”
“My older sister is married with two kids and living in Connecticut. You know Blaine’s story. My younger brother just graduated from college in Boston and my younger sister lives in Newport.”
“Funny how we both come from big families.”
“I know, right?”
For a long time, they stared out at the captivating ocean vista, the sight of which never got old to Julia.
“When we spent summers here, I would curl up on the window seat in my room and stare at the ocean for hours. My gram knew how much I loved that seat, so she always gave me and Katie the same room.” Julia had no doubt Adele had ensured she’d gotten their old room this weekend.
“You love it here.”
“I really do.”
“Funny how I hated living here when I was a kid.”
“What? Why? How could anyone hate it here?”
“It was so confining. We couldn’t go anywhere or do anything but what was on the island. I left the day I turned eighteen, and I’ve only been back a handful of times since. It’s just not my scene.”
“So why are you here?”
“That’s kind of a long story, and you need to get back to your mom’s wedding before she thinks you’re upset that she married Charlie.”
“I’m not. He seems great, and he’s clearly crazy about her.”
“Then what’re you doing out here when the rest of your family is celebrating?”
“I needed a break.”
He nudged her shoulder playfully. “From what?”
“The outbreak of happiness in my family. It’s making me feel like I have poison ivy all over me.” She rubbed her arms. “I can’t take it.”
Deacon laughed—hard.
“It’s not funny!”
“Yeah, it kinda is.” He stood and brushed off his shorts. “Let’s walk back before your mom gets her feelings hurt. After the brunch, I’ll take you for a ride in my boat, and you can be miserable where no one but me can see you.”
She took the hand he held out and let him pull her up. When she was standing, she withdrew her hand, folded her arms and gave him an assessing look. “Why did my mom invite you to her wedding?”
“I honestly don’t know. Maybe she suspected you might need a friend?”
“Is that what you are? My friend?”
They began the walk back, choosing their steps carefully on the enormous rocks that made up the jetty.
“If you want me to be.”
“I told you, I’m not going to sleep with you or do anything else with you.”
“Ew, we’re friends. I don’t do that stuff with my friends.”
Julia laughed at the outrage in his tone. “I’m glad we understand each other.”
“Oh, we do. For sure.”
“You’re not playing games trying to be my friend, thinking you’ll wear me down and get me to sleep with you, are you?”
“I’m really offended that you’d suspect me of something so devious.”
She gave him a gentle shove that he didn’t see coming and had to grab his arm to keep him from taking a bad fall.
He gave her a wide-eyed look. “You saved my life.”
“Whatever.”
“No, it’s true. That would’ve been a bad fall.”
“I fell off this jetty once, when I was twelve.”
They continued to work their way back toward the shore. “Were you hurt?”
“I was black and blue and scabby for weeks. It really scared me—and my grandfather, who saw it happen and got to me before I could be smashed against the rocks. Took me a long time to come back out here after that, but every day, he and I would walk a little farther out until I got past it. He said he didn’t want me to lose something I loved because of one random incident. ”
“He sounds pretty great.”
“He’s the best man I’ve ever known.”
When she tripped over a raised rock, Deacon grabbed her arm and kept her steady.
Julia looked over at him. “I guess now we’re even.”
“I guess so. So about that boat ride I promised you… I was going to take the boat out, get familiar with the harbors and the layout of things before I officially start the new job on Monday. You want to come along?”
“Are you allowed to take someone with you?”
“As long as I have a life jacket for you, which I do.”
“Sure, that sounds like fun.” It sounded like more fun than trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do with herself now that Katie’s wedding was over and she had no way to get home without bumming money off a family member, which was not going to happen.